Filed under: Macworld, Accessories, Peripherals, Software, Video, Interviews
Macworld 2009: Neat Receipts / Neat Works video interview
A long, long time ago (May of 2008), The Neat Company introduced their Neat Receipts for Mac scanner / software combo. We wrote about it here on TUAW, and even gave away a few of the scanners.Fast forward to Macworld Expo 2009, and Neat Receipts is no longer an "Advance Release". Neat has unbundled the software from the scanner, and calls the resulting scanning software and digital filing system NeatWorks for Mac. It's available for US$59.95, while the version with the Neat Mobile Scanner is still available for US$229.95.
The application still provides the core ability to scan in receipts and capture information from them for searching and totalizing in a spreadsheet or Quicken. NeatWorks now also scans business cards, and is synchronized with Address Book -- scan in a card, make any necessary edits, then drag the item from the NeatWorks inbox to the Address Book. Finally, NeatWorks creates searchable PDFs for storage to help you build a paperless office.
I spoke wth Mark Gollin of Neat during the final day of Macworld Expo. To see a demo of NeatWorks in action and hear about possible future directions for the app, view the video by clicking the Read More link below.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
grifmx said 3:54PM on 1-14-2009
my wife bought me this for Xmas. I'm asking her to return it and save the money.
it might be helpful to go paperless with some things, but I spend all my money thru plastic bank cards, so as long as I keep my receipts in general categories, my bank statements are the most concise and accurate records of my expenditures.
IMHO, to scan each receipt is redundant busy work, unless you are doing it to discard them.
unless I could afford to pay someone to do it, then it'd be cool!
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Dave said 4:12PM on 1-14-2009
Before moving to a Mac, I had Neat Receipts for Windows. I was audited twice in the same year (for two different tax years). Because I had incredibly indexed and complete records, I was able to get through both very quickly and without owing a cent. Arguably, I had a TON of receipts, so I needed some system to organize them. And I live in a small NYC apartment, so every inch saved by going paperless is huge. But I would not have been able to get through everything as easily as I did.
Let's just say: I printed out a large report of all my receipts (apologies to the tree I killed). When I placed it on the IRS agent's desk, he put away his calculator, looked at 3 or 4 pages, laughed defeatedly, and then let me go my way.
The one thing I hope they have in 2.0 for Mac, or get in the Spring/Summer release, is the tax categorization feature that's available on the PC version. That was key for me.
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jamesnasser said 4:13PM on 1-14-2009
Even though he has an NDA, he basically confirmed when leopard is coming, vaguely anyway.
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David Southard said 4:14PM on 1-14-2009
grifmx,
Yes and that might be true if this were JUST for receipts but it does business cards and OCR.
Its not just a dumb scanner program as you indicate. And since you don't HAVE to use the Neat scanner. (Hello Fujitsu ScanSNAP) it might be a really affordable solution for most.
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jamesnasser said 4:17PM on 1-14-2009
has anyone used this software in conjunction with a ScanSnap Fujitsu scanner?
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Michael Alf said 9:22PM on 1-14-2009
Just tried it with my scansnap s300m and it works fine. I have been using this program since it came out and like it for my expense reports each month. No more lost receipts and now I have a travel scanner and only one scanner on my desk.
runithome said 11:25AM on 1-15-2009
I've been using ReceiptWallet for about year now and have found it be very useful and well-designed.
I wonder how it compares to Neat Receipts. I'd be tempted to switch if it has any really big, positive differences. But in reading the article, I don't see any at first glance.
Has anyone used both programs enough to give a comparison?
thanks.
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Ian Aberle said 5:56PM on 1-14-2009
On the the NeatReciepts store , the NeatWorks for Mac Software Kit is $79.95 (regularly $99.95).
What I don't understand is why there is a a separate NeatReceipts for Mac. Couldn't they just put the software for the different versions on the same disc? I'm interested in the product, but I think $229.95 for a limited use scanner and some software is a little much... especially when I can get the regular NeatReceipts at Costco for $149.
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Aloysius Snuffleupagus said 6:16PM on 1-14-2009
I too got Neat Receipts for Xmas and sent it back. The scanner was nice and small and (hallelujah!) USB powered but the software was way too glitchy. Kept having weird cropping problems which would create OCR problems. Tech support was pretty MIA and when I finally got one in an online chat window it would take about 5 minutes for every response. Ultimately her solution to my problem was to change USB ports every time the scanner acted up. Not only is that silly and impractical, it didn't even work. I love the concept but it's not ready for prime time in my opinion.
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DJFriar said 7:43PM on 1-14-2009
If they have a demo version, I can't find it on their site. If there is no demo version, then they fail.
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HMcM said 9:51AM on 1-15-2009
The review says, "... NeatWorks for Mac. It's available for US$59.95" but the site says $79.95. What happened to the better price? Simply a typo or is there a special for tuaw readers?
And why no demo? I am also looking at using ReceiptWallet, which is $39.95 and has a demo available, with my ScanSnap S510M.
On the other hand NeatWorks claims to work with my HP Officejet J6480 All-In-One printer.
Has anyone compared the two programs?
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